Southern Sudan may boycott the upoming national assembly elections if a dispute over last year’s census data is not sorted out quickly, official said yesterday.
GoNU Foreign Minister Deng Alor told Reuters that the census issues have to be resolved otherwise the south will not participate in the elections of national parliament.
Mr. Alor said he is confident that the dispute will be resolved because it is not in the interest of the National Congress Party that the south does not participate in the elections for the National Assembly.
Juba accuses Khartoum of manipulating the results of the 2008 census to deny the south adequate representation in the national parliament, proportionate with its size, in order to pass self-serving legislation.
Talks between both sides to reach a consensus were put on hold and they are expected to resume next month.
It was reported that the NCP wants the SPLM to withdraw its candidate for the president of the republic in order to resume negociations over the census results use.